Phoenix Suns to sign Leandro Barbosa

The Phoenix Suns plan to sign former Sun Leandro Barbosa to a ten-day deal, according to the Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro.

Teams can start officially signing players to ten-day contracts tomorrow. Barbosa plans to meet the Suns in Chicago on Monday. According to Coro the ten-day deal is pending a physical. The timing for this deal is perfect, as the Suns begin a 5 game road trip in the East Coast tomorrow. With Eric Bledsoe out for at least a week–maybe more–this signing is going to add some depth at the guard position for the Suns for the time being.

Barbosa, the former Sun, is back on a ten-day deal looking to find a new home in the NBA.

Nicknamed “The Brazilian Blur,” Barbosa was a fan favorite in Phoenix where he won the sixth man of the year in the 2006/2007 season. He hasn’t played in the NBA since February 11th of 2013, when he tore his ACL while playing for the Boston Celtics. Ryan McDonough was the assistant GM in Boston at the time as well, so he’s bringing back a player that he’s familiar with, to a team that he (Barbosa) is very familiar with.

Barbosa spent his first seven seasons playing for the Phoenix Suns where he had some of the best years of his career. He averaged a career best 18.1 points per game, 4.0 assists per game, 2.7 rebounds per game and 1.2 steals per game in the 2006/2007 season when he won the sixth man of the year award.

In Boston Barbosa averaged just 5.2 points per game in 12.5 minutes per game off the bench. He was playing professionally in his native country Brazil before signing this deal with the Suns.

My only concern with this signing is that it could potentially mean the Eric Bledsoe will be out longer than a week as it was initially reported. Hopefully this is just a move to add some depth for the time being and that Bledsoe will be back as soon as possible.

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Born and raised in Southern New Jersey, I follow the NHL and other hockey leagues. I follow the Philadelphia Flyers as well as the St. Louis Blues. I go to American University in Washington DC. I major in International Studies and Russian Language, and I also play Division 3 Club ice hockey. Writing about current NHL topics since 2015.
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